Denny's Daily Zinger: Start a Business for Free

The greatest business miracle in my lifetime is Google.
I get information in seconds that took days to research in libraries. Never in human history has so much information been available to so many—and for free!

What triggered this riff was coming across a story in The Wall Street Journal:

More cities are putting information on everything from street-cleaning schedules to police-response times and restaurant inspection reports in the public domain, in the hope that people will find a way to make money off the data.

Supporters of such programs often see them as a local economic stimulus plan, allowing software developers and entrepreneurs in cities ranging from San Francisco to South Bend, Ind., to New York, to build new businesses based on the information they get from government websites.

Advice from a Geezer
Years ago, I followed horse racing. I spent hours with The Racing Form going over the statistics. And every day, two or three ponies would pop out of the numbers, grab my head and say, "PUT TWO BUCKS ON ME!" I often won.

I bet if you spent time prowling the Internet-following your bliss—a unique collection of data will begin to take shape and a new business idea would pop out of Google and say "BET ON ME!"

The real difference between then and now? The Racing Form cost $2; Google is free.

Denny Hatch is the author of six books on marketing and four novels, and is a direct marketing writer, designer and consultant. His latest book is “Write Everything Right!” Visit him at dennyhatch.com.